Border officers make largest fentanyl seizure ever in Arizona

Border officers made the largest fentanyl seizure ever on Saturday, stopping 254 pounds of the drug from entering the United States, the Arizona Republic reported Thursday.

The drugs were seized from an 18-wheeler truck crossing into the United States from Mexico at a port of entry in Nogales, Ariz., according to the paper.

The Republic reported that the drugs were hidden in a truck that was also carrying cucumbers

{mosads}”This is the largest fentanyl seizure in any port of entry,” Guadalupe Ramirez, a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official who oversees Arizona’s border crossings, told the newspaper. “In CBP, in the history of CBP, this is the largest fentanyl seizure.”

Fentanyl is a deadly opioid that has been helping to fuel the overdose epidemic in the United States. The drug is 80 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

President Trump has cited drugs like fentanyl entering the country as a reason there’s the need to build his signature U.S.–Mexico border wall. Democrats have responded that it makes more sense to strengthen security at ports of entry, where most of the drugs enter.

“Normally, the southwest border ports are intercepting the most fentanyl, compared to other ports of entry, airports, seaports, the northern border,” Ramirez said, according to the Arizona Republic.